Fair and Prime
by Pyrimidon386
Summary: Kirsain Mellowfair has always been in his mother's shadow, but that hasn't stopped him from dreaming. Now he and his best friend have the chance of a lifetime and they aren't going to waste it.
1. Small beginnings

FAIR AND PRIME

By

PYRIMIDON386

(Nintendo's property, not mine. I'm just playing in their sandbox).

"Yes! Got you!" said 14 year old Kirsain Mellowfair as he picked up the pokeball that now held his new Pidgey. He had just completed his final assignment: catch your first pokemon. He would be graded on his method (a thrown stone in his case, but they hadn't been given their own pokemon for the task), how hurt the Pidgey was, and how quickly he had finished compared to other students.

If he got 50 percent or higher, he would be able to become a Pokmon Trainer and go on his journey with his new Pidgey. His best friend Roddy Prime was also taking the final test and both had agreed to journey together if they passed. Kir wondered how well his friend was doing, but right now he needed to get back to the exam room or he would be wasting valuable time, and that would lose him points he could not afford to lose.

* * *

Maybe he shouldn't have run straight to the exam room - he was panting for breath and his nerves were shot. Composing himself, he walked up to the desk with as much dignity as he could muster and wordlessly stood before the examiners who would decide his fate.

"Well, Mr. Mellowfair, we see you have finished. Please release your pokemon and we shall examine it." Kir swallowed nervously. This was it. "Go, Pidgey!" _Please, please, please, I've waited my whole life for this…_even if he just got 51 he'd be over the moon, he wanted this so badly. He'd heard that trainers in other regions were able to go on their journeys when they were 10, no strings attached, and he had been so jealous he'd nearly run away to Kanto or Johto to get his license, but he hadn't been able to leave his friends and his father behind.

All children in the Heksar region had to attend pokemon school until they were 14 if they wanted to become trainers. While this meant that there were much fewer trainers from Heksar, it also meant that – theoretically - even newbies had a big advantage because they knew every strategy type and move inside out. (Although, as his best friend Roddy often pointed out, knowing every move didn't help if your pokemon only had Tackle and Growl).

The system seemed to work, however, and as a result Heksar was renowned for its formidable trainers, and hopefully Kirsain Mellowfair would become one of them. If he could past this final test. If he did he'd get a free ferry pass to Kanto and he'd begin his journey with Roddy if things went to plain.

"Well," said Ms Dunsparce (that wasn't her actual name but a nickname given to her by her class because her face so resembled one, and it had stuck) "First of all, can you tell me how you caught this Pidgey?"

"I threw a stone," he replied. He was quite proud of that – he'd been practising for weeks on leaves and tree branches. "I hit it on the wing so it wouldn't fly away." Kirsain had hoped that would score him marks but he'd also been worried it would count against him because, well, how much effort did it take to throw a single stone? Not a lot. Personally he didn't see how that would actually take away marks beyond his own paranoia, but you could never be sure.

He waited nervously as the examiners muttered among themselves – Mr McGuiness was there, he'd said Kirsain was his best student - and strained to hear what they were saying. Mr Dillan spoke up: "Finally, can you tell us why you want to be a trainer?" Kirsain blinked in shock. No one had said anything like this would come up! "Um. I-" oh, no, he was losing it! Stay calm! "I…I want to see the world. Er. To - to see every Pokemon, not just read about them, I want to know what it's like to pull off a combination instead of being told it's good. Uh. I think so."

A few teachers nodded their heads and Kirsain nearly sighed in relief, but he pulled himself together and kept his poker face, just in case it was bad news. He couldn't get his hopes up too high. "Very well. Recall your Pidgey, please." As the tiny bird pokemon disappeared in red lights, Ms Dunsparce signed something and handed it to him.

_KIRSAIN JASON MELLOWFAIR _

_CERTIFIED POKEMON TRAINER_

Mr McGuiness shook Kir's hand. "Well done, Kirsain. You have your mothers blood."

"Yeah…" he replied, staring blankly at the slip of paper he'd been dreaming about for so long. "Yeah. I guess I do."

TBC...

A/N: This is just a touch-up of chapter one, just minor things like spelling mistakes and sentence construction have been changed, plus the awful purpley description of Kirsain has been removed. The whole thing is still mostly intact.


	2. A ferry good trip

A/N I would like to say that Roddy is not named after a Transformers character, I only just noticed that while typing this chapter! Okay here is chapter 2. Enjoy!

"Aaaaw yeah!!" Roddy cried, punching Kirsain in the arm. "You did it! You did it, Kir!"

"Yeah," Kir said, still in shock from what had just happened. He was happy for Roddy – he'd caught a Murkrow by luring it out with food berries – but still couldn't quit believe it. He was a trainer. A real trainer. Just like his mother had been. Pidgey was weak, he didn't know what he was going to do against Brock (maybe he could borrow a squirtle from Oak in Pallet…) but he was a trainer.

It still didn't seem real.

But the rushing water and biting wind proved it was real. Very real, in fact. They lined up to take the ferry that would bring them to Kanto. Other successful students, some he recognised, were among the passengers. And himself and Roddy of course. It would take about a day to get to Kanto, and every minute felt like eternity. It wasn't as bad as when he'd been waiting for his verdict, but still.

"So what are we supposed to do for a whole day?" Roddy asked.

"I guess we could check the ship out and maybe have a few battles with other people to get some experience before it begins for real?" Kirsain replied.

A few extra levels wouldn't hurt. The more he thought about it the more worried he was about Brock, who would slaughter his pidgey if he was unprepared. He needed to take his mind off the upcoming trials. Anything was better than remaining in Heksar, with everyone talking about what a great trainer his mother had been and how they were sure he'd do her proud.

"Ticket please," said a sour-faced man who glared at them as they handed over the tickets.

"Jerk," Roddy whispered. Kirsain giggled but stopped when the man looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Is something funny, young man?" he asked, glaring. Roddy gulped.

"No sir," Kirsain said quickly and pushed Roddy forward to get away and onto the ship.

It was huge with many excited clamouring passengers. Kirsain shouted and waved goodbye to his father who was smiling and laughing through his tears as the ship cast off while Roddy hollered at his older sister not to touch his stuff. His dad was a businesses man in Goldenrod and his mother had died in an accident two years ago, so it had been left to Rhea Prime, his older sister, to look after Roddy. His dad sent regular packages of money and gifts and she had a lot of friends so she said she was alright with Roddy following his dream as long as he looked after himself and didn't get into too much trouble.

"Let's go check out our rooms!" Roddy said in excitement as the port faded out of their view and there was just mist and sea in the ship's wake.

"Hey, wait up!" Kirsain laughed as he was dragged by an overeager Roddy, who obviously wasn't looking where he was going because they banged into someone on their way down.

"Hey, watch it!" the stranger snapped.

"Oh, sorry!" Roddy gasped and held out a hand to help him up. "Are you all right?"

"No!" the boy said angrily. "I could have broken my leg! You're just lucky my father isn't here or he'd sue you!" when he finished speaking he stormed off – at least that was the effect he wanted. It turned out to be more of a flounce.

"….okay," Kirsain said after a while. "That was weird."

"Very weird," Roddy agreed. "Do you know who he was?"

"No idea. I hope he's not a new trainer, I don't want to run into him again."

"Yeah. He said his father isn't here, though. Is he alone?"

"How would I know that?" Kirsain replied, noticing that Roddy looked a little concerned.

"Fair enough," Roddy grinned, and the strange mood created by the encounter was broken instantly. "To our rooms!"

Their rooms were nothing spectacular, much to Roddy's disappointment. They were also on different floors, so they decided to explore the ship instead of hanging out in their rooms like Kir had initially wanted to.

"Maybe we can find some trainers," Roddy said. "I want to get Faint Attack at least before I take on Brock." Argh! There it was again – the worry that Kir had managed to put to the back of his mind had resurfaced.

He'd been so intent on catching a pokemon, any pokemon, he hadn't hesitated when he'd seen the Pidgey – even if it meant his starting pokemon would be very weak and common. Now, though, he was having second thoughts, and he knew it wasn't fair because it wasn't Pidgey's fault. Or Shial's, rather, as he'd named her after a character in a book he'd adored as a kid. Granted, in the book Shial had been a Lugia, not a Pidgey, but still. Anyway, Pidgeot wasn't that bad, but it would be difficult to train her up, especially if he couldn't even get past Pewter City thanks to Brock.

"Hey, Kir! Earth to Kir! Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Whuh?" Kir blinked and looked at Roddy, who was actually looking kinda worried.

"Yes, four and one thumb," Kir said, coming back to reality as Roddy stopped waving his hand in front of Kir's face.

"Man, you've gotta stop zoning out on me like that," Roddy said. "You really freaked me out for a second!"

"No way," Kir said, "Remember last year when I tried to scare you during Halloween by jumping out at you? You said, and I quote, that you are 'un-freakable.'"

"Maybe a little freakable," Roddy muttered. "You still remember that I said that?"

"Well, it's not exactly – hey, look! A battle!"

"Wha – hey!" Roddy shouted in protest as Kir eagerly dragged him to where cheers and shouting familiar commands marked the site of a pokemon battle.

* * *

"Extremespeed!"

"Protect, then Bubblebeam!"

Kir and Roddy pushed their way to the front just in time to see the Arcanine shake its head as if dislodging an annoying fly rather than from being hit by a super-effective attack.

"Cloyster has insane defense but its special defense is rubbish," Roddy observed. "Why's the other guy using physical attacks? Fire'll be normal anyway because Cloyster is Ice as well."

"What's the score?" Kirsain asked a girl standing next to him.

"One-nil to the guy with the Arcanine," she said, turning to them. "He nailed the other kid's Leafeon in one hit."

"Leafeon? Wow, I'm jealous. They only discovered those a few months ago."

"Yeah," Roddy muttered. "Gave us hell in the written tests. 'Hey guys, we've just found another hundred pokemon for you to memorise! Better get cracking!'"

"Huh?" the girl looked at them, confused, before comprehension dawned. "Oooh, are you new Heksar trainers? Congrats! I'm Nina, I'm going back to Celadon after visitng my aunt."

"I'm Roddy Prime," Roddy introduced himself, shaking her hand.

"Kirsain Mel- AAAH!"

The crowd shrieked in surprise as walls of water appeared from nowhere and crashed down on Arcanine, some spectators near the front – including Kirsain - jumping backwards to avoid getting soaked. They broke into applause as the water cleared to reveal the Arcanine wobbling on its feet before collapsing with a loud thump.

"Surf!" Roddy laughed, clapping with the rest of the crowd. "You should've seen your face, Kir!"

"Shut up," he said, grimacing as he saw that his t-shirt was soaked. He hoped the ferry had dry-cleaners.

The trainer with the Arcanine didn't look the least bit worried as he withdrew the fire dog. It became clear when the light faded and his next pokemon was revealed.

"Ludicolo! Giga Drain!"

"Prote – no!" The other trainer was too slow, and Cloyster fainted. Two-one. "Colin, return! Michael, go!"

The crowd 'oooh'ed as another recently discovered pokemon came into battle - Magnezone. The bizarre, UFO-like pokemon bristled with electricity.

"If the other guy's got a ground type, he's toast," Roddy muttered. Kirsain nodded absently, wondering what he would do if he were in the situation of the losing trainer. At least Shial would be super-effective against Ludicolo.

"Thunder!"

"Dive!"

The crowd clapped as the lethal electricity harmlessly bounced off the area where Ludicolo had hidden – at least, that was what it looked like. Ludicolo immediately bounced up again, howling as the water it had immersed itself in became electrified.

"Water conducts electricity," the boy with the Magnezone grinned. "You just saved me from using Rain Dance. Thunder!"

The combination of the Thunder strike and its own water turning against it was too much for Ludicolo, and the crowd burst into wild applause as the duck-beaked pokemon fainted. Now the score was even – Kirsain felt a thrill of excitement shiver through him. This was what he wanted.

"You think you have a chance?" the other trainer snarled as Ludicolo disappeared in red light. "Let's end this foolishness. Golem!"

Some of the crowd began backing away, not wanting to lose their balance and fall if it came to Earthquake, which surely it would. Kirsain, who'd already been soaked today, joined them, ignoring Nina as she chuckled at him. Roddy just rolled his eyes and kept watching – some day he would be the one crowds flocked around.

Magnezone kid didn't hesitate, shouting "Magnet Rise!" just as the older trainer ordered Golem to unleash Earthquake. The crowd shouted and a few people fell over, but Magnezone was unaffected. Roddy nodded in approval, deciding on his favourite trainer – Magnezone kid was a few years younger than him but was well-accomplished, while the other trainer seemed overconfident and arrogant. "C'mon, kid," Roddy whispered to himself, "You've got him on the ropes! Show him who's boss!"

"Flash Ca-!"

Just as Magnezone was given its final order, the other trainer shouted, "Wait!"

A deathly hush fell on the crowd as Magnezone paused, waiting for confirmation of its order. Golem looked just as confused as everyone else as it was engulfed in red light.

"I surrender."

The noise was immense once the crowd figured out what was going on. Roddy whistled and cheered, almost beside himself with excitement. Kirsain went 'oof!' as he was given a rather enthusiastic hug by his friend. The two trainers, Magnezone kid and the other guy, shook hands and agreed on the winnings.

* * *

Half an hour later, Roddy's eyes were still wide with excitement. "I mean, he was _amazing_," he said, waving his arms around to illustrate his point. "And he's younger than me! I've always thought our system was stupid, and I've been proven right! If he was born in Heksar that kid would still be in school! What a waste!"

"Mmm," Kirsain said, having grown bored of this conversation half an hour ago. "Hey, he's over there if you want to go and propose to him."

"What? Where?"

Kirsain pointed – Magnezone kid was leaning against the ship's rail, leafing through a booklet.

"Right," Roddy said, drawing a deep breath. "Wish me luck." Before Kirsain could say that he was joking, or that the kid looked occupied, Roddy ran to greet his newest hero.

"Roddy!"

* * *

"Hi," Roddy said, already breathless with excitement and hoping that he didn't come across as too weird. "I saw you earlier, you were awesome!"

The kid looked up, startled, and clutched the booklet to his chest. "Oh, er, was I?"

"Yeah! You creamed him! You're amazing!"

"Uh, w-well, thanks," he stammered, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Concerned, Kirsain walked over.

"Are you okay?" he asked, putting a warning hand on Roddy's shoulder. "If my friend is bothering you, then -"

"No, no, it's fine! Really! I-it's just I get kinda nervous around people, y'know?"

"But you were awesome out there! You didn't look nervous at all!" Roddy had a point – the deck had been swarming with people, but the kid hadn't seemed too concerned.

"Oh, that's all right," the kid explained, "I'm great in a pokemon battle. It's like I connect more with them than I do with people."

An awkward silence descended – what were you supposed to say to that? Surprisingly enough the kid was the one who broke it, as if he'd had this conversation before.

"Don't let it bother you, I guess I'm just a freak, huh?"

"No!" Roddy insisted. "No, you're great! And, uh, I don't know your name."

"Oh! Oh, sorry. I'm Rob Bridges, full name Robert but I prefer Rob. Trust me, I've heard all possible jokes you could make about my name."

"I'm Roddy, he's Kirsain. So you've seen Heksar? What so you think of it?"

"It's, uh, it's different. I got a Vileplume there."

"Awesome," Roddy grinned. He probably would have applauded Rob if he'd caught a Magikarp. "What other pokemon do you have?"

"Well, uh, you've already seen Colin, Michael and Liam," (Kirsain assumed that was the Leafeon) "there's also Peter, Jill and André. O-oh, right, they're Pidgeot, Jolteon and Aerodactyl." (Pidgeot! Kirsain grinned at hearing that. Maybe he had a chance after all!)

"So you name all you pokemon like that? That's cute. Uh, in a manly way," Roddy hurried to add that last bit. "What would you call a Xatu?"

"Um, Xatu, I guess?"

"Fair enough," Roddy smiled. "So where are you from?"

"My parents live in Saffron City. Mum said I should check out Heksar, it has some really good trainers. I've been away for a few months so I'm visiting them."

"Cool," Roddy said. They slipped into a more companionable silence until Rob worked up his courage to ask.

"So what about you guys?"

"Well," Roddy said, his old theatrical flair returning to him. "It all started when I was ten…"

TBC!

A/N Over 2,000 words for one chapter! Wow, that kinda ran away with me. It's like the longest chapter I've ever written, lol. I can't blame you if you skip it, but I wanted to get the ferry ride out of the way. Anyway how did I do? Too long? Boring? Confusing? Let me know what you think! Ok see you guys next chapter!! Oh and Kirsain is pronounced Kerr-sane if anyone was wondering, his nickname Kir is still pronounced Kerr.


	3. Arrival and ambush

A/N I realised that I made a mistake last chapter when Roddy asks Rob about Heksar before Rob says he was there. Sorry! Does anyone know how I can change it? Also for the person who e-mailed me, I use British spelling because my parents moved from there and it's what I prefer. I'm not spelling the words wrong. Anyway, here is chapter 3. And I still don't own Pokemon. Curses.

Chapter Three 

"Man, that took forever," said Kirsain as they finally reached Pallet Town and were able to step off the ferry. "Using Surf would've got you there faster."

"Yeah, and you'd be attacked by Tentacool every three seconds. I've heard _stories_," said Roddy, shuddering. He hated all things slimy and tentacle...y.

"Well, obviously you'd use Repel. _Lots _of Repels."

"Ugh, definitely. When you go to Cinnabar, take a ferry. Trust me, Surfing's not worth it. I ran out of Repel half-way through."

"Augh, Rob, _don't_. I'm gonna have nightmares."

Kirsain laughed. Rob had come out of his shell once he'd decided they weren't psycho murderers, and they'd become fast friends chatting about pokemon and telling ghost stories when they'd met in Rob's room (he was first-class) for a sleepover during the night. Despite his complaining, it had definitely been a good experience. He felt even more sorry for those in his class who hadn't passed the test (one tearful classmate hadn't been able to find a single pokemon in her final test, and last he'd heard was appealing to take it again. He hoped she got another chance).

Roddy coughed. "Anyway, we should get going if we want to get the good stuff. I don't want some jerk to nick my Bulbasaur."

Due to Heksar's...unusual policy (although Roddy had several other choice words for it), many trainers started with ones different from the traditional starting pokemon, so Professor Oak always offered a selection to new trainers who wanted an extra boost against the gym leaders.

Knowing anything and everything about pokemon didn't change the fact that Pdgey and Murkrow would be near useless in the first gym. Roddy had already decided on Bulbasaur, but Kirsain really didn't know what he wanted.

They followed the rest of the new Heksar trainers to Oak's lab, where the elderly Professor was waiting. Even in Heksar, Oak was revered among those who dealt with Pokemon as part of their jobs.

"It is with great pleasure and excitement that I welcome you to Kanto. We have always had great relations with Heksar, and so I am pleased to see you all. You may choose one of the traditional starting pokemon from one of the four regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. Then it is up to your own skill and your bond with your pokemon. Please, step this way."

"He is _so cool_," Roddy breathed. Kirsain just laughed.

* * *

"Wow," Kirsain said, speechless. Roddy had to agree with him. The storage room was _huge_. Pokeballs lined the immense walls and starter pokemon milled about in small pens. He would only be able to pick one. 

"Show me the nearest Bulbasaur," Roddy said as he strode forward, wasting no time.

"Uh, there's one over there," Rob said, pointing.

"Right," Roddy said, dragging a protesting Rob with him and leaving Kirsain with the decision he'd been avoiding all day on the ferry.

What to choose?

* * *

Three hours later, matters hadn't improved. Eventually Roddy had stormed off in a huff and taken Rob with him, 'leaving you with your stupid angst', as his supposed best friend had put it. 

"I can't _choose_," Kirsain groaned to the empty room. "Torterra is a good tank, Blaziken is cool, and a well-trained Empoleon is nearly impossible to take down. Defense is through the _roof_."

"Defense isn't going to win tournaments," a new voice said, coming up behind them. "But you're right, Blaziken _is_ very cool. So in a way I'm helping you out by narrowing your choices down."

"Hey!" Kirsain said as the newcomer, a young boy with a mop of brown hair, pointed his pokeball at the curious Torchic. The small ball of orange fluff cheeped and poked its nose against the button, activating the pokeball and sucking it inside. Kirsain glared at the kid.

"What was that for?...Hey, haven't I seen you before?"

"Who – ah, yes. You were with that oaf in the ferry."

"Oaf? Kirsain bristled. "That oaf is my _friend_, and he's a better trainer than you could ever hope to be."

"Says the oh-so-powerful Heksar trainer who's thinking about choosing a defense pokemon. They're worthless. Cowering behind a shield won't do anything except drag out your loss."

"Just for that I _will_ pick Piplup," said Kirsain. "Empoleon is good, you know."

"Right, that decision had nothing to do with my starter being a fire-type and your penguin being a water type. And don't you think you should base your choice on something other than a petty grudge?"

"Yeah, right, it's all about you. If you hadn't noticed I was considering Piplup anyway before you showed up."

"Whatever. Have fun with Defense Curl, I'll be over here with Fire Blast."

Kirsain rolled his eyes. Fire Blast hardly ever hit, in his experience with battle simulators. He much preferred Flamethower. The boy turned away to leave – good riddance, as far as he was concerned - and Kirsain knelt down to capture the Piplup in his pokeball. _You are good. I know you are. We'll be great together, little guy. And we'll show him._

"Nigel Lawson, by the way."

"Kirsain Mellowfair," Kir muttered. He could only hope their paths wouldn't cross again.

Famous last words.

Just as the Piplup disappeared in crimson light, the storage room suddenly became pitch black and a 'click' sounded behind Kirsain – the door was locked. He nervously gripped his pokeball, blinking as his eyes adjusted. He hated the dark; an old, childish fear he'd never been able to let go of. It no longer terrified him as it had when he was younger, but it still made him very nervous and uneasy. The fear of the unknown. The monster waiting for lights-out.

_It's fine, _he told himself._ It's probably just a malfunction._

That didn't explain the locked door.

"Torchic! Ember!"

Kirsain had never been more glad to hear Nigel Lawson's voice. A few feet away a small area lit up as Torchic obeyed his new owner's first command.

"Hey!" Kir called out. "You okay?"

Nigel didn't get a chance to reply as a new voice split the darkness.

"Dammit, Alex, there's still some guys in here! Now what?"

Another voice, this time female, replied from somewhere to Kirsain's right.

"Oh, come on, José, they're just Pallet newbies. You can't take out two starters while I make off with the loot?"

"And take all my credit and blame me for the screw-up? How stupid do you think I am? As soon as we get back I'm requesting another partner. After the Saffron gig I should've known you'd have tried to pull off something like this."

"How many times do I have to tell you, José, you paranoid idiot? That was an _accident_. But I can't say that I'll-"

"Shut up!" Kirsain shouted, strangely unafraid – the bickering had made him more annoyed than scared. "Who are you people? What are you doing?"

"Well," he could _hear_ the smirk in Alex's voice. "We're the rising stars in the criminal underground! We're Team Shadow! We strike in darkness and leave nothing but fear! And as for what we're doing-"

"Let me have a go for once, you _always _get to do the introduction speech!" Kirsain had to choke back a laugh at the whining tone in José's voice. He was suddenly even less scary than he'd been before, if that were possible.

A long-suffering sigh, then: "Fine. Now you've ruined all the dramatic tension, tell the kids what we're doing and get on with it, my arms are killing me."

"Ahem. We, Team Shadow, are going to accomplish what no others have ever achieved. Professor Oak's lab, the Holy Grail of Pokemon! When we swipe this stuff, all the world will know and fear Team Shadow!"

"Now, if you don't mind..." Alex. "Mothim! Sleep Powder!"

No! Kirsain gasped as he realised too late what was going on. A mistake, as he simply inhaled more of the toxic dust. He faintly heard a thud as Nigel succumbed. He had to act fast.

"Shial!" He cried, his body starting to shut down even as he gave the order to save him. "Use Gust! Blow the power away!"

"Pidgey!" Shial emerged from her pokeball and flapped her tiny wings rapidly, blowing away the dust and allowing Kirsain to recover.

"Smart move, kid." José was impressed. "But now it's two on one, and you don't have a chance against the both of us."

Kirsain gulped. They were right.

Maybe he was a _little_ scared.

To be continued...?

Finally, thanks to Facia for reviewing! Yes, the Heksar system is flawed, hence Roddy's ranting in chapter two, but it can be hard for a country to let go of a long tradition that seems to work. (Plus the parents don't really want to send their ten-year-olds off to fend for themselves; they have different values to the other regions).

Thoughts? Comments? Think the whole thing's stupid? Drop me a review, but remember to tell me what's stupid so I can (hopefully) fix it! Flamers will be laughed at and then ignored.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Recovery, perhaps

A/N: Oh noes, Kirsain has aaangst. Don't worry, Roddy will hit him if he gets too mopey. Enjoy chapter 4! Also no, I don't own pokemon, geez. Quit asking, you guys.

Just kidding. But seriously, I don't own it.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Kirsain?"

Oog. He hurt. Everything hurt, even the too-bright light against his closed eyelids.

"Kirsain."

Maybe if he lay really really still the voice would go away and let him sleep for a million years. Yeah. That sounded good.

"Kirsain. Look at me."

Was that voice familiar...?

"You're stronger than this, Kee. Look at me."

Kee...that wasn't his name. No-one called him that, not in a long time. The only one who had was...

"Mum?" he breathed, not daring to look, in case he didn't see anything.

"Come on, Kee...that's it...open your eyes..."

"Mum!" Kirsain shouted and surged forward, yelping as unseen, slippery things tangled his limbs and he lost balance, crashing to the -

"Oof!" Roddy gasped as Kirsain plowed into him. "Hey! You're not dead!"

"Roddy? Wha – where am I?"

Past memories finally seeped through, before Roddy had a chance to reply.

"The Lab! Team Shadow! What happened?!"

"I'm glad to see you too," Roddy grumbled, shoving Kirsain off him. "It's not good news, though. I don't know what happened in there exactly, but a whole bunch of pokemon belonging to other trainers that Oak was storing here were stolen, plus a bunch of starting pokemon. The whole region's going nuts."

"Oh..." Kirsain looked down, ashamed. It was his fault...he should have been able to stop them, somehow. He could have -

"Don't start."

"Huh?"

"Just don't. You're thinking," here Roddy put on a ridiculously high voice, "'Oh, if only I could have stopped them with my level five pokemon against their high-level ones that could and probably did wipe the floor with me!' Am I right?"

"...Maybe. And I don't sound like that. Did – did they take-"

"Yours are fine," Roddy said, handing over two pokeballs to a relieved Kirsain. "Guess they had other things on their mind. Now, are you going to obsess over this and do I need to make fun of you for it until you realise that it wasn't your fault and you couldn't have prevented it?"

"Don't, Roddy. Just...not now. Please." Kirsain couldn't just ignore that possibly hundreds of people's pokemon had been stolen and he could have stopped it instead of being whacked unconscious by something he'd heard coming at him in the darkness too late, but at the moment he really didn't want to deal with the inevitable teasing. A subject change sounded good round about now.

"Where's Rob?"

"Oh, he went ahead on his Pidgeot to Saffron City to visit his parents, he'll meet us in Viridian in a few days. And check this out!" Roddy pulled two strange little machines from his pocket, handing one over to Kirsain with perhaps a little more dramatic flair than necessary and waving his own one in his friend's face. "Our own Pokegears!"

"Wow, cool," Kirsain said, taking his and flipping it open. "I thought you could only get these in Johto?"

Roddy shrugged. "Tell that to Professor Oak, he was handing them out while you were out of it."

"Hang on, are these free?" Kirsain had brought money with him, obviously, but he hadn't expected something like this to be handed to him free of charge.

"Professor Oak didn't say anything about it, and I didn't ask. We won't get the radio attachment until we hit Lavender, but the phone and map are pretty useful."

"Mm," Kirsain replied, already adding his Dad's number to the phone's list. He should probably call at some point, in case news of the robbery reached Heksar and Dad got worried.

"Shall we get going then?"

"In a bit," said Kirsain, swinging his legs off the bed and standing up. "I want to talk to Professor Oak. Apologise. Say what I saw in there."

"What did happen, anyway? The police have been in here a few times asking for you as a witness."

Kirsain groaned. He hadn't been counting on that. Part of him just wanted to sneak out and go on his journey like he'd wanted to all his life, but something big could be happening. Unoriginal name aside, Team Shadow could be a serious threat, and Kirsain wasn't just going to run away.

"I'll probably have to say it several times today anyway, so you'll hear it then. I'm probably going to get sick of it in a few hours."

"I'm sure you will," Roddy said, rolling his eyes and following Kirsain out of the room.

TBC...

Chapter five ultra-secret sneak preview!

"That was _so cool_," said Roddy. " I can't believe we met Batman."

"_I_ can't believe that Batman is secretly a Transformer," Kirsain replied. "I mean, how can you be Batman _and_ a giant transforming space robot? It doesn't make sense!"

"No, but it was very cool to watch."

"It sure was nice of him to buy us ice cream after he stepped on that doomsday device for us," Rob added, so the audience would remember that he still existed. They all agreed it had been an excellent day.

Okay, so maybe that doesn't happen. Or maybe it does! _Who knows?_


	5. Route 1 Blues

A/N: I'm afraid there's only so much you can do with Route 1. Oh well. Pokemon still isn't mine.

Chapter Five: A Distinct Lack of Batman (or anything else exciting)

After what felt like hours of repeating his story to the police and anyone who knew he'd been in the storage room, plus lots of grovelling in front of Professor Oak (who'd merely smiled and said he needed to update security for a while now anyway as he handed them their pokedexes), Kirsain and Roddy were finally on the road. Route 1. This was truly the beginning of their journey to the Elite Four.

It was also slightly dull, as the excitement faded away after realising that it was nearly deserted; all the Heksar trainers had already gone on ahead, and Pidgey and Rattata really weren't that all exciting, no disrespect to Shial intended. Kirsain had called his Piplup Vallis, after Shial's partner in the book. As they were his starters he'd be using them together more often than any other pokemon he caught, at least initially, so he hoped they'd get along like the characters had.

Roddy was the kind of person who would call a Pikachu 'Pika' or a water-type 'Aqua,' so he agreed with Kirsain that his nicknames would be pointless and stupid and would only annoy Kir. True to form, Murkrow was now 'Murky' and Bulbasaur was 'Bulba'. Kirsain couldn't wait until Bulbasaur evolved and Roddy ended up calling an Ivysaur 'Bulba' in battle.

"...I mean, Raticate's not that bad," Roddy was saying, bringing Kirsain back to the present. "It, um, it has Super Fang. And it can learn Ice Beam."

"Do we have an Ice Beam TM?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Are you actually going to catch a Rattata?"

"I might try and fill the pokedex one day!"

Kirsain knew for a fact that there was no way Roddy would have that kind of patience, but decided not to goad him further. His friend was already annoyed with him for insisting on fighting every Pidgey and Rattata he came across for the meagre exp they gave. Anything was better than nothing, he reasoned, but Roddy saw it as a waste of time and was waiting until they found some newbie trainers instead, as they'd give more experience and the battles would be less 'mind-numbingly dull', as he put it. Roddy made a point of (loudly) wishing he had a radio during various points in battles, apparently trying to get him to lose against wild Pidgey and Rattata.

As far as Kirsain was concerned, he was currently three levels ahead of Roddy, and counting. He was concentrating on getting Vallis's power up, as he'd be the one to face off against Brock, although Kirsain was contemplating getting a Butterfree in Viridian Forest. Sleep Powder would be a good asset to his team.

To be honest, though, he was getting bored, and slightly sick of repeating the same battles again and again. When another Rattata wandered across their path he didn't immediately release Vallis, instead waiting for it to move off the path so they wouldn't startle it and cause it to attack them. Roddy raised an eyebrow at this new development, and spoke in an annoying commentator-like voice.

"What's this, folks? The world-renowned greatest trainer ever Kirsain Mellowfair has deigned not to beat up a level three pokemon for about as much experience! What's caused this stunning turn in events?" he even presented Kirsain with a curled fist, as if he were holding a microphone. Kirsain snorted and pushed it away.

"One, don't do that, it's annoying. Two, Vallis is high enough at this point that I'm confident about a trainer battle, and three, I'm going to train Shial against the bugs in the forest where she'll be super-effective instead of here. Good enough?"

"Finally he gets it," Roddy said, squinting into the distance. "Hey, are those buildings?"

"Too square to be trees," Kirsain replied, shading his eyes against the sun.

"Excellent," Roddy said, running ahead. "Viridian City, here we come!"

Personally, Kirsain thought he'd been very childish about the whole thing. At least Roddy wasn't quite as annoying when he was around Rob.

He ran to catch up.


End file.
